God chose Abraham to be His friend and made promises to save the world through His seed, and He continued to bless them throughout the generations, but they took it for granted and began to rebel against Him, causing God to judge them and to appoint the Gentiles to continue the message of His desire to have friendship with mankind to provoke Israel to jealousy as He continued to fulfill His promises to Abraham. Listen in today as our teacher, Pastor Landis Fisher shares a message he has titled: “Friends of the Father”
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 32:15 – 24 (KJV)
Deu 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Deu 32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
Deu 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
Deu 32:18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
Deu 32:19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
Deu 32:20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
Deu 32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
Deu 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Deu 32:23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
Deu 32:24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
New Testament Scripture Reading: John 15:12 – 20 (KJV)
Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Joh 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Transforming Power Statements:
1) God chose Abraham to be His friend, and by extension, the sons of Israel to show the world His mercy; and therefore, He blessed them greatly to show the Gentiles how gracious He is; so that they too would seek Him, but through the years after Gods love panned out to elevate Israel to great wealth and status, they began to believe that they had earned God’s best and that He somehow owed it to them; which deceive them to disregard His word.
2) God elected to give salvation to the Gentiles after Israel rejected Him via the rejection of Jesus His Son, and the Church has now had the same amount of time to illustrate God’s love to all the world in order to draw everyone to Christ; but many of us too have began to set aside His word thus nullifying His friendship.
3) Let us be sure to share the message to as many as we can, and always be thankful for His mercy, knowing that there is coming a day when God will recall begin to deal with Israel again to complete the promises He made to them and to restore them to fellowship in order to finish fulfilling His promises.
